Powered by our People: Michelle Greenwood
The small but passionate crowd watches intently, willing their team to push forward to the painted white line at the end of the field.
But this isn’t one of the hundreds of rugby union or AFL games played across Australia on any given weekend. It’s women’s gridiron, and it’s the World Cup.
Michelle Greenwood was recently selected to represent Australia at the IFAF Women's World Championship in Vantaa, Finland – a long way from Central NSW where she works as Merchandise Manager at the Nutrien Forbes branch.
“I’ve been in Forbes for about two and a half years now, but I’ve been with the business for about 14 years in various wholesale roles across the country. This is my first stint in the retail world, and it’s great – we have an awesome team here at Forbes, and really strong leadership,” said Michelle.
Originally from WA, Michelle started her career with a 12-month contract with Landmark in Perth in 2008 and has been with the business ever since – in roles across Melbourne, Brisbane, back to Perth and now Forbes.
After moving to Brisbane in 2015, Michelle found herself looking for a new sport to play.
“Contact sport is hard for someone of my size (I’m five-foot-five and at the time was probably about 50 kilos). I can’t rely on brute strength, so I needed to find something that was more about technique and strategy,” said Michelle.
Gridiron, or American Football, differs from rugby in that it’s less about possession of the football, and more focused on gaining and retaining territory. With helmets and protective gear, it requires a different set of skills.
“Being covered in all the gear (in gridiron) made me feel more protected, like I wasn’t going to come out with black eyes,” said Michelle.
While gridiron is a growing sport in Australia, Forbes doesn’t quite have its own league yet.
“I play for the Northern Sydney Rebels, which means I travel a 10-hour round trip to Sydney most weekends during the season and juggle my own training back here in Forbes.”
“This isn’t ideal but having trained with the head coach of the club previously, he’s provided me with the flexibility to manage my own training and fitness. It's a minority sport with a limited pool of players to draw from, so if they've got someone with experience, they're willing to help you out in order for you to show up on game day.”
Michelle’s partner Danni also plays gridiron at the same level, but training can still be challenging.
“I’m a receiver, so a require a quarterback to throw the ball. She’s a linebacker, so she’s usually up against the big people in the middle. We both do what we can to help the other with their drills, but we’re not the right fit to be each other’s opposition player.”
With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the normal selection process for World Cup squad, this year the Australian team was pulled together from previous game results, fitness metrics and weekly film submissions showing position specific drills. State based trainings were washed out due to the floods, and when Michelle and Danni were ultimately named on the 45-woman travelling squad, they only had four days together as a team before flying out.
Arriving in Finland, the Australian National Women's Gridiron Team faced off against Canada, Mexico and Sweden in the 11-day knockout tournament, beating the latter to take out seventh place.
“It was an intense experience playing against teams who were much more experienced at this level, but our coaches were so proud of how we performed. We scored in every game and had our first international win,” said Michelle.
With the gridiron season kicking off this weekend, Michelle will be busy training and travelling to games in Sydney. She’s also been selected to participate in Nutrien’s 2022 Women in Leadership Mentoring Program, where she’ll be working with a senior leader in the business to further develop her skills and establish an action plan to achieve her own goals.